Up to 75 percent of Carolinas customers could lose power from Florence, Duke Energy reports

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(File photo)

Up to 75 percent of Carolinas customers could lose power from Florence, Duke Energy reports

(File photo)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. –– Between 1 and 3 million people could lose power in the Carolinas in the wake of Hurricane Florence, according to Duke Energy.

The power company serves about 4 million people in this region, meaning they expect between about 25 and 75 percent of their Carolina customers to be impacted.

“The magnitude of the storm is beyond what we have seen in years,” said Howard Fowler, Duke Energy’s incident commander, in a news release. “With the storm expected to linger, power restoration work could take weeks instead of days.”

More than 20,000 people will be in place to attack restoration as soon as it’s safe to do so. Right now, 1,200 line workers, contractors and related support personnel from Florida are on their way to the Carolinas to help in Hurricane #Florence efforts. pic.twitter.com/8KIKn4mKWz

To prepare, Duke Energy has more than 20,000 people in place ready to restore power.

Duke Energy described this as the company’s largest resource mobilization ever.

Among those 20,000 workers are more than 8,000 Carolinas’ based worked, 1,700 midwest-based workers and 1,200 Florida-based worker.

Another 9,400 are coming from other utilities.

“Despite our workforce, customers should continue to make plans for their homes and facilities,” Fowler said. “It’s important for people to know this is no ordinary storm and customers could be without power for a very long time – not days, but weeks.”